The company announced the device Tuesday morning, saying the gadget will be available at its low price without requiring a service contract. By comparison, a 16-gigabyte iPhone 5s with no contract costs $649.

Although the Moto E does not feature top-of-the-line specs, it does come with some pretty solid hardware.

The 4.3-inch screen features 540 by 960 pixel-resolution with 256 pixel per inch density. The device runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat, the latest version of Google's mobile software, and has a 5-megapixel rear camera.

The Moto E comes with just 4 GB of storage, but users can expand its capacity through its microSD slot. The device uses a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, and Motorola said it has a battery that can last throughout the day for the average user. Customers can also customize their phones by changing out the Moto E's back cover.

Among the few downsides of the Moto E is that it cannot connect to high-speed 4G LTE networks. Instead, the Moto E is limited to 3G networks and lower.

The phone maker also said it had created a new version of the Moto G, a low-cost device introduced a few months ago for $179 with no contract. Now customers will also be able to purchase a $219 version of the gadget that can connect to 4G LTE networks.

Motorola on Tuesday also said that the Moto G was its bestselling phone ever. If so, the-even cheaper Moto E stands to gain greater success.

The consumer price index, a leading measure of inflation, fell last month into negative territory over a 12-month period for the first time since the fall of 2009, when the nation was just emerging from recession. It also fell from December, the third straight month-to-month decline.

Ana Redmond launched into a technology career for an exciting challenge and a chance to change the world. She was well-equipped to succeed too: An ambitious math and science wiz, she could code faster, with fewer errors, than anyone she knew.